


Under The Stars

by dovingbird



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Gen, Past Drug Use, Rock Hard Tour 2017, concert fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 01:37:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dovingbird/pseuds/dovingbird
Summary: A filled commission. During their Atlanta performance on the Rock Hard Tour, Dan has a quiet moment of reflection.





	Under The Stars

_“Hey Bri.”_  
  
 _“Yeah?”_  
  
 _“What do you think it’s gonna look like when we actually succeed?”_  
  
The amount of sweat that had Danny’s suit sticking to his body was positively obscene. He raked his hair out of his eyes and felt what was essentially a fucking river course down the back of his neck. Why the fuck had he decided that Danny Sexbang always wore his hair down? Why hadn’t he set a precedent for putting it up?  
  
He could deal with it, though. He could deal with anything when he was on stage in a venue like this tonight. He hadn’t fully believed it when he was told that the show sold out, but standing here sure as hell put it in perspective.  
  
Multiple levels of people. Every seat filled. As difficult as it had been initially to see through the stage lights, his eyes had begun to adjust, and now he could fully appreciate the scope of it – a cell phone shining on someone’s face in the front row, a camera flash from the first balcony, a huge sign all the way on the last row of the second balcony that he only caught glimpses of when he moved between the streams of light.  
  
 _”What do you mean?”_  
  
 _“Like, just...when do you really think we’ll have made it?”_  
  
 _“As Ninja Sex Party?”_  
  
 _“As anything, really.”_  
  
Dinosaur Laser Fight had gone off without a hitch at every show so far, and the audience fucking ate it up – it gave TWRP a second to grab water between the sets, for Arin to know it was time to start getting ready, and for Brian to show off like the son of a bitch he was. Danny had to push his voice less, his ears got a few minutes to chill out from the ridiculous haze of noise around him...it was a win all around.  
  
Several concerts into the tour, though, and it wasn’t exactly new and exciting anymore. Did he love it? Yeah, sure, he fucking adored it – especially when everyone sang along – but anything could lose its charm. Not performing, maybe, but performing certain songs...it was possible. Especially when there were so many other things to worry about going wrong while he was focused on one slow heartfelt song about dinosaurs.  
  
“You can sing along – if you know the words,” he teased just before he had a soothing drink from his water bottle. Somehow, they did. Somehow this song that Danny had been singing practically in his sleep for years was on everyone else’s tongue here tonight. As Brian’s fingers coaxed delicate chords out of the keyboard, Danny felt a shiver run up his back, and he vowed to do what he could to pay attention tonight. He brought the microphone to his lips.  
  
 _”Condoms with our logo on them would probably be everything I needed.”_  
  
 _“Brian, c’mon, man, I’m being serious. Look at what we’ve got going on right now. Working shitty jobs? Trying to find time to play for an open mic comedy night? Where only like five people know who we are and who aren’t even there for us? You’re not gonna sit there and tell me you’d seriously be satisfied with that.”_  
  
The words flowed from his mouth, practiced and strong, as Danny paced the stage, doing everything he could to draw every person in the audience up on stage with him in spirit. It was the least they owed him. They’d bought tickets. They’d bought CDs. They’d bought posters. They’d done everything in their power to make sure that all of them got to this venue – this opportunity – even if it meant them giving up a coffee or a burger for a week or two to do it.  
  
A flashlight or two came on through the crowd on the second level, then the first, then the third, and it made Danny grin. He’d held up a Zippo in his life a time or two at a concert that kicked ass. It was a compliment. He glanced over at Brian – did he see this shit?  
  
 _”Fine. You’re no fun.”_  
  
 _“Just humor me, man.”_  
  
 _“Then I’d say...a giant outdoor venue. Songs under the stars. The acoustics would be shit, but it wouldn’t matter, because we’d have the best of the best equipment to help carry it. People would know about us for miles.”_  
  
 _“How many people?”_  
  
 _“Thousands. All in that one spot.”_  
  
“Oh my God, that looks awesome,” Danny said softly as more phones joined the first few – people were looking around and taking notice, and it made the adrenaline bubble up inside of him, as new as it had been the first time he stepped on a stage.  
  
It was distracting. It wasn’t the first cue he’d ever missed, but when he realized Brian was cycling through the chords, one right after the other as he waited for Danny to come back to the music, he turned to him and gave a little bow. “Please,” he drawled, gesturing toward Brian grandly for him to proceed to the progression for the second verse.  
  
Brian didn’t look at him. He stared with huge eyes out at what was beyond them both. And goosebumps spread over Danny’s arms before he even turned to follow Brian’s gaze.  
  
“Oh my _God._ ”  
  
There was a sea of lights in front of him – below him, above his eyes, scratching the heavens. As he gaped, new ones joined the luminescent symphony, blinking into life and dancing like an entire forest of spirits coaxing him.  
  
 _This can’t be real._  
  
Three. Thousand. Lights. Each one of those lights belonged to a person. Each one of those persons had chosen this specific moment in time to be here – to _support_ them. All of them.  
  
He’d never seen anything so beautiful.  
  
 _”You really think we could have that? Just you and me, a couple of old guys under the stars, playing what we love for people who love it?”_  
  
 _“I think I’m willing to spend my entire life on the mere chance that it might.”_  
  
 _“...why, Brian?”_  
  
 _“Because it’s worth it. You’re worth it. And I can’t wait to see you cry like a little baby when it happens.”_  
  
 _“Shut up, I would never.”_  
  
 _“Fifty bucks on you crying like a little baby.”_  
  
 _“Deal.”_  
  
They’d made it. After years of disappointing family, missing out on friendships, flagellating themselves with doubt, losing sleep for writing and working through it all the next day, fighting with time zones, and giving themselves ulcers...they’d made it.  
  
How much had he given up to have this chance even though he knew it was more likely to find a snowball in hell? What all had he dragged Brian away from on a whim and a risk even when he knew he had a family to feed? How many times had he lay in the grass under the stars stoned out of his mind, imagining a world where this might be a possibility, and having it be the only thing that was getting him through alive to the next day?  
  
 _It’s funny,_ Danny thought as he drank in the brilliantly lit, glistening crowd through tear-filled eyes. _I never thought I’d see the stars so much better sober._


End file.
